Place: Ratings & Reviews

No other brewpub can boast of its proximity to hops as Whitstran can. They're just two blocks from the Yakima River and two miles from major league hops farms. Their recently opened pub represents a shift away from the 13 years Whitstran operated as a production brewery with a small tasting room on the outskirts of town. With their successful remodeling of a former auto repair shop in 2008, Whitstran was reborn as a brewpub complete with 9 beer taps, a small outdoors dining area, and one of the last legal smoking lounges in the state.

The modest trappings of a former shop are in evidence in the form of cinder block walls painted blue-gray. And the floor is a textured rubberized surface I've never seen in a bar before. Framed beer quotes still hang on the walls as they did before. But the food menu has taken on much more than the seasoned pretzels that were the only food served at the tasting room. Now you can get steamed clams, pickled eggs, wraps, salads and dinner specials such as steak medallions or prawns.

Whitstran brews twelve beers; seven are regularly served at the pub, the others are available on a rotating basis. The regulars include a steam beer, a Scottish, and a dry-hopped pale. Seasonal beers tend to be stronger such a barleywine released in November and a winter seasonal called Friar's Decadence - a double chocolate imperial stout brewed with baker's cocoa. Whitstran's location in the heart of Washington's wine country assures an eventual wine list. Meanwhile, they offer a non-alcoholic birch beer and orange cream soda.

I thought it was kind of cool to see a brewery lucked this, tucked away in such a small town. There were several locals there the afternoon I visited, along with 1 server. My girlfriend and I both tried the dry hopped pale. I really hate to slam someone's hard work but it was so bad neither one of us could finish our glasses and we ended up sneaking out and leaving a half pint each (we'd paid beforehand thankfully).

I don't like leaving a 1 for a rating ... that should in most cases be reserved for a place with bad beer and bad service. There was nothing wrong with the service at all. But when the beer is that bad that you can't even finish it I can't rate any higher than a 1.

I stopped at Whitstran Brewing Company will traveling through the area.

Atmosphere: Plain and industrial. The place used to be an old auto repair shop. Furnishings are plain like you find in a cafeteria. Cute beer sayings are in small frames hanging on the on the walls. Seating for about 50.

Quality: Good. The Horse Heaven Hefe is very authentic tasting.

Service: Is OK. If they are doing something else, like sweeping the floor, they finish even if you are sitting at the bar.

Selection: 6 regulars and a seasonal.

Food: Pretzels are great. I did not try anything else.

Value: OK for consumption in the place at $4 a pint. A bit pricey to go at $10.75 a six-pack.

Cool place that I stopped at while driving from Houston to Seattle. Purchased a mixed-6 while drinking a pint. Devoted staff, loved what they were doing, locals at the pub with some none-wine-loving tourists. Sent some beer back to Texas and friends commented on the quality of the water, thanks Rick Perry, just kidding, not really. If ever near this place, stop by and give it a chance. I've noticed that if you just take things as they are rather than think about how you will tweet about it later, you might see things that you normally might not. I wish I had more time to play Connect4 here but will have to stop back by when doing a hiking tour in SE WA.

Outside: Clean, enough parking for an average dinner/drinking crowd (would not support a larger sports-watching crowd), upkept.

Inside: Very plain, as stated in another review. The beer quotes on the wall are simply black ink on white paper, in cheap looking frames. Not a big deal, but gives a cheap feel since they cover the place.

Food: Reasonable priced. Free pretzels had some garlic/basil type of herb in addition to the salt, and tasted good. Hamburgers are frozen patties and, while not bad, not worth the $9 premium.

Service: Very nice. They took me in the back where the brewery is and let me poke around. A couple of 13bbl fermenters, and a few smaller ones (10bbl?). Closed at 9pm on a Thursday night, which didn't expect, but everyone was very nice.

Beer: They have different sampling options, all with 4-ounce samples. Essentially, it's $1 a sample, which isn't bad at all. The 7 regulars were all good to exceptional. Of the 3 seasonals, the Belgian was the only one worth it's salt. The Cranberry Lambic was tart, and the seasonal stout was repetetive of the regular. The Steamy Cream was advertised as an ale that used a lager yeast, which was slightly annoying since lager yeast=lager, regardless of fermentation temperature and mouthfeel. Either way.

Price: For food, not bad. Samples, very reasonable. On the back of the menu it prices out the cost of to-go beer, and here goes what I can remember - 6-Packs are $11 and 1/2bbl Kegs are $155. The others (cases, etc.) ran along the same lines. The beer was good, but nothing I had reconciled their cost.